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By Alicia Ault
Published: January 19, 2007

Editors' Note Appended

FOR most Americans, Montana signifies the mythical West, a place to dream of buying a working ranch or a mountain hideaway. And Red Lodge is one of those places where Montana real estate fantasies can come true, and fairly cheaply.

Red Lodge is attracting more second-home buyers and retirees, lured by its stark beauty, the Mayberry R.F.D.-like social structure and the wide range of available housing - from in-town condominiums, to miner's shacks, to Victorian mansions, to contemporary log homes and ranches.

About 60 miles southwest of Billings and 60 miles northeast of Yellowstone National Park, the old mining town is nestled in a high valley. The 10,000-to-nearly-13,000-foot Beartooth Mountains - the jewels of the 943,377-acre Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness - surge from the 5,500-foot valley. There are abundant fly-fishing streams, rivers to float down or kayak on, ranges to ride, peaks to climb and backcountry to explore.

Stand in the middle of a field above town and all you're likely to hear is the wind whipping past. There are no stoplights; two drive-through espresso shacks and a smattering of upscale restaurants aim to please both tourists and the upwardly mobile second-home owners arriving from San Francisco, Chicago, Atlanta, Tucson, Seattle, Minneapolis and Billings.

Many second-home buyers are counting the days until they become full-timers. Jim and Holly Brian of Chelsea, Mich., bought a five-bedroom house with a guest apartment on six acres overlooking Red Lodge in 2003. A year later, they bought a ranch six miles to the west of town that had an old farmhouse and two newer houses, plus 122 acres, for about $1.8 million.

Mr. Brian, 59, a real estate developer, and Ms. Brian, 51, are now raising bucking bulls for rodeos, and have invested in a local plant nursery. "Jim needs to be outside and busy," Ms. Brian said, "and this fits the bill."

Jerry Williams and Vicki Cearcy of Daphne, Ala., came to Red Lodge to ski in 2005. Two weeks later, they bought a three-bedroom contemporary house in an older subdivision southwest of town for $460,000. Both orthodontists and both retired from the military, they considered buying in Durango, Colo. But the people and the ability to enjoy the outdoors and fly their own small plane into the local airport persuaded them that Red Lodge was the place for them.

Mining originally put Red Lodge on the map. The town was founded in 1889, soon after the Rocky Fork Coal Company set up east of town, bringing thousands of Finns, Italians, Croats, Germans and others to work the mines. The railroad followed. Shirley Zupan, who has written a history of the town, said that Red Lodge was a rollicking frontier town where fistfights and gunfights were common. Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane came there for trysts.

The town has calmed over the years. It used to be that "a good location was any one you could crawl home to," said Dennis Meeker, a broker with Coal Creek Realty.

Mining and fistfights have given way to tourism and agribusiness. In summer, motorcycles and R.V.'s are drawn to the roads, especially the Beartooth Highway (Route 212). Opened in 1936, the Beartooth winds 60 miles and as high as almost 11,000 feet from Red Lodge southwest to Cooke City. Skiers pour into town from late November until mid-April, eager to hit the slopes at Red Lodge Mountain Resort.

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